City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends the City Council approve an agreement with Latitude
Geographics Group Ltd (Victoria BC, Canada) for the purchase of GIS software and
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) training and development support services.
BACKGROUND:
In 1998, the Information Technology Department initiated efforts to implement an
enterprise GIS that would support the needs of all City departments. To date, this
effort has resulted in the acquisition of over 100 digital data layers such as aerial
photography, land parcels, street centerlines and department specific information.
The primary objective of the City’s GIS program is to create a stable and accurate
GIS database and provide customized GIS applications, maps, and spatial analysis
services to City departments and the public.
In 2002, staff initiated a development effort to design custom GIS interactive web
applications. The software used for these applications was ArcIMS, which was
developed by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI). ESRI is the
industry leader of GIS technology. Culver City’s existing web applications also
integrated MoxiMedia Internet Mapping Framework (IMF), a software product
developed by MoxiMedia Inc. to rapidly deploy customized web mapping
applications. After 2 years of development, the following applications were
launched between 2004-2005:
Property Information Search – Provides access to property information in
Culver City including parcel data and aerial photography (1999, 2004, 2006,
Meeting Date: 6/22/2009 Item Number: C-10
AGENDA ITEM: Approval of an Agreement with Latitude Geographics Ltd for the
Purchase of GIS Software and GIS Training and Web Development Support
Services.
Contact Person/Dept.: Johnnie Griffing Phone Number: 310-253-5976
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [X] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: Master E-Mail Notification List (6/17/09); Latitude Geographics Ltd,
James Van Dyk (6/17/09)
Department Approval:
John Richo (6/11/09)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (06/19/09)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (by M. Noller) (06/17/09)
City Manager Approval:
Mark Scott (06/18/09) City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
2008). Detailed parcel reports include zoning, landuse, residential trash
pickup, and more.
General City Map – Provides access to Culver City infrastructure including
schools, places of interest, parks and recreation, and street address.
Planning Vicinity Map – Query property information, mark up maps, and
generate custom soft- and hard-copy maps used in public hearings and staff
reports.
Mail Label Application – Used by Culver City staff to generate public
notifications and general mailings by identifying locations, optionally
calculating a buffer distance, and generating address lists culminated from
three databases for owners, businesses, and occupants.
Bus Route Map – Displays bus routes, bus stops, and estimated walking
times (5 and 10 minutes) from bus services. Provides the ability to find
locations.
Sewer System Access Map – Search Culver City sewer system and I.D.
sewer lines for descriptive information and scanned engineering drawings.
DISCUSSION:
Training was provided to city staff, and these applications became well adopted in
support of day-to-day activities in city government, often times reducing considerably
the amount of time to answer a question, provide information, or use as a resource
for maintaining city infrastructure. Additionally, these applications are also
accessible via the City’s Internet and benefit businesses and citizens requiring
information. Having such an online resource also reduces the amount of time city
staff needs for answering questions or providing information to the public.
While these applications have served the City well, the software platform they are
based on has become obsolete and is no longer supported. Certain factors have
been affected by this outdated technology:
Security – Staff has faced challenges migrating legacy applications while
keeping server operating systems up to date. For example, in 2008 a service
pack was implemented on servers for required security measures. Staff had
to implement complex configuration changes so servers could operate with
legacy GIS web applications.
Stability – Often times the GIS web applications crash or cease functioning
requiring staff time, both from the IT Department for administrating/
troubleshooting as well as client downtime, before remedying the problems.
Staff has investigated these issues with vendor support and concludes that
these stability problems are related to conflicts between various outdated City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
software components running on updated operating systems and
infrastructure.
Performance – The web applications run very slowly over the network. Again,
this is due to incompatibility between the software and operating system of
the server.
Support – Vendors ESRI and MoxiMedia have diminished capabilities to
support outdated software as ESRI’s new web mapping technology, called
ArcGIS Server, has become the industry standard. Additionally, staff projects
that advancements in Microsoft’s operating system software will soon push
out the ability to support legacy web applications for continued use. There
were numerous challenges with migrating to Windows Server 2003. The fact
that the web mapping technology is old inhibits us from maintaining security
measures in the future and making further enhancements.
The most advanced mapping technology from ESRI, ArcGIS Server, is an enterprise
technology that provides numerous advancements in web mapping for performance,
stability, security, and functionality. This software has become the industry standard
for custom web mapping as ESRI’s center focal point in GIS software.
The middleware that the IT Department proposes, Geocortex Essentials by Latitude
Geographics Ltd, is an off-the-shelf software package that provides the largest set of
web mapping tools to choose from on the market. This off-the-shelf solution has a
site management tool that enables and simplifies maintenance of GIS web
applications. Additionally, other Southern California government agencies
(attachment 1) are also using the Geocortex solution which further enables data
sharing. Geocortex Essentials, a strategic business partner with ESRI, is exclusively
and tightly integrated with ESRI’s ArcGIS Server, ensuring compatibility with future
releases of this software.
Our City requires custom development to replace and enhance our existing GIS web
applications, such as was the case in 2002 with the 2-3 years it required to then
stand up complete, working web applications in 2004-2005. IT Department
recommends contracting directly with the software provider, Latitude, to rapidly
develop new GIS web applications. The contract deliverables would include:
Application 1 – this would be a combined “Mail Label Application” and
“Planning Vicinity Map” application. This would include replacement of mailing
and vicinity map templates based on what our City currently uses.
Application 2 – this would be replacement for “Property Information Search”
and “General City Map” that would include the ability to search by
APN/Address/Intersection and additional query, map markup, and map
development functionality.
Application 3 – this would replace the “Bus Route Map” with greatly enhanced
interface providing a fast, stable, and very user-friendly web experience. City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
Application 4 – this would replace the “Sewer System Access Map”. This
application would retain important search functionality and hyper-linking
capability to view scanned engineering drawings that correspond to GIS
sewer map data.
During development, a complete transfer of knowledge will occur which will serve to
train staff on the use of the development tools. The objective at project completion
will be to eliminate the need for ongoing consulting services.
We believe Geocortex Essentials is the software of choice because of its industry
leading set of tools and tight integration and support with ESRI. Staff believes it is in
the City’s best interest to contract with the software provider directly for maximum
efficiency in development that will result in a savings in cost and time. Per Culver
City Municipal Code Section 3.07.065.A, there is an exemption from competitive
bidding for “the purchase of supplies or equipment which…can be obtained from
only one (1) vendor”.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
Sufficient funding is available in the following accounts for fiscal year 2008-09:
• IT Department Operating Budget (Other Contractual Services -
10124100.619800) in the amount of $26,660 for professional services.
• Capital Improvement Project (GIS Network Survey - 42000525.732160) in the
amount of $9,500 to purchase GIS software.
The authorization to purchase software and obtain professional services from
Latitude Geographics Ltd would result in an expenditure not to exceed $36,160.00
ATTACHMENTS:
List of Geocortex Essentials users (California government agencies)
Latitude Quote
MOTION:
That the City Council:
City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
1. Approve an agreement with Latitude Geographics Ltd. for the purchase of
GIS software and GIS training and web development support services in an
amount not to exceed $36,160.00;
2. Authorize the City Attorney to review/prepare the necessary documents; and
3. Authorize the City Manager to execute such documents on behalf of the City.
MEETING DATE: 06/22/2009
AGENDA ITEM: Approval to Purchase GIS Software and an Agreement with
Latitude Geographics Ltd to Obtain GIS Training and Web
Development Support Services.
ATTACHMENTS
Pages
1. Latitude Customers in California 1
2. Latitude Quote 2
Attachment 1
Latitude Customers in California
Some customers of Latitude Geographics Ltd. who use Geocortex Essentials in
California include:
City of LA
City of Burbank
City of Anaheim
City of Chino
Southern California Association of Governments
City of Santa Rosa
City of Santa Barbara
County of Santa Barbara
2 Attachment 2
Latitude Quote
3